{"id":8601,"date":"2012-07-21T07:53:50","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T07:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/?p=8601"},"modified":"2012-07-21T07:53:50","modified_gmt":"2012-07-21T07:53:50","slug":"paes-backs-ioas-decision-to-appoint-sushil-kumar-as-indias-flag-bearer-at-london-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/?p=8601","title":{"rendered":"Paes backs IOA\u2019s decision to appoint Sushil Kumar as India\u2019s flag-bearer at London Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leander Paes has backed IOA\u2019s decision to appoint Sushil Kumar as India\u2019s flag-bearer at the London Olympics opening ceremony, saying that the Beijing bronze-medallist wrestler deserves the honour, says a report in <strong>Hindustan Times.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Shooter Abhinav Bindra, the country\u2019s first individual gold medallist at the last Olympics, was reportedly the preferred candidate of the IOA but since his 10m air rifle event is scheduled three days after the opening ceremony on July 30, the shooter wanted to focus on his preparations. Similarly, boxer Vijender Singh\u2019s weigh-in is scheduled for July 28, while Paes has already led the Indian contingent in the 2000 Sydney Games. Thus, the IOA decided that Sushil should do the honours this time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have already been the flag bearer in the opening and closing ceremony. So I think it is really fair and I think that wrestler Sushil Kumar is well deserving of it,\u201d Paes was quoted as saying by a TV channel.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile according to a <strong>Bombay Times <\/strong>report, Leander said that being the country\u2019s top player he should ideally have been given the option to choose your partner, but that didn\u2019t happen. \u201cWell that\u2019s how it is supposed to be I think (laughs). I\u2019ve always played for the country unconditionally, and if this is the team the selectors have chosen, then this is the team I will play with, and give it my very best. People ask me about choosing Vishnu Vardhan over others, but I didn\u2019t choose anyone. I was told that All India Tennis Association (AITA) had their hands tied because of political and other pressure. Does it set a bad precedent for Indian sport? Yes, I think it does. AITA were quite clear in their statement that it was not purely a tennis decision. I don\u2019t think I need to say more,\u201d said Paes. <\/p>\n<p>According to a report in <strong>The DNA, <\/strong>India\u2019s tennis ace Leander Paes has said he knows what it takes to win an Olympic medal and will not distract himself by delving into people\u2019s expectations, the negativities and the politics. Paes, who won the singles bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Games, said he would let his racquet do the talking.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what he thinks about former Davis Cup captain Jaidip Mukerjea\u2019s comments that his chances of winning a men\u2019s doubles medal at the Olympics are very remote, Paes said he cannot deal with other\u2019s opinions.\u00a0 \u201cI think everybody has his or her own opinions. I don\u2019t deal with other people\u2019s opinions. I know what it takes to win a medal. I know how much hard work it takes. I have won a medal before. So long story short, I don\u2019t delve into people\u2019s expectations, the negativities and the politics. I do what I do best which is to let my racquet do the talking,\u201d Paes said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leander Paes has backed IOA\u2019s decision to appoint Sushil Kumar as India\u2019s flag-bearer at the London Olympics opening ceremony, saying that the Beijing bronze-medallist wrestler deserves the honour, says a report in Hindustan Times. Shooter Abhinav Bindra, the country\u2019s first individual gold medallist at the last Olympics, was reportedly the preferred candidate of the IOA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[376,280,336,656,1196],"class_list":["post-8601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-from-the-newspapers","tag-leander-paes","tag-london-olympics","tag-mahesh-bhupathi","tag-sushil-kumar","tag-vishnu-vardhan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Paes backs IOA\u2019s decision to appoint Sushil Kumar as India\u2019s flag-bearer at London Olympics - IndianSportsNews.com - Latest Updated Sports News &amp; Sports Blogs of Cricket, Hockey, Golf, Football, Tennis &amp; Other Sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/?p=8601\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paes backs IOA\u2019s decision to appoint Sushil Kumar as India\u2019s flag-bearer at London Olympics - IndianSportsNews.com - Latest Updated Sports News &amp; Sports Blogs of Cricket, Hockey, Golf, Football, Tennis &amp; Other Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leander Paes has backed IOA\u2019s decision to appoint Sushil Kumar as India\u2019s flag-bearer at the London Olympics opening ceremony, saying that the Beijing bronze-medallist wrestler deserves the honour, says a report in Hindustan Times. 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